Bournemouth welcome Barnsley to the Vitality Stadium in Saturday’s huge Sky Bet Championship clash in the race for a play-off spot.
Victory will see Bournemouth move above Barnsley into sixth, whereas the Tykes can climb to fifth with a win if Reading lose at Nottingham Forest.
Team News
Lewis Cook is ruled out for Bournemouth with a season-ending knee injury suffered in their 1-1 draw at Preston last weekend.
Phillip Billing (groin) and Sam Surridge (toe) could return but Diego Rico (groin) and David Brooks (ankle) remain absent.
Barnsley have no fresh injury concerns to report after Wednesday’s goalless draw against Derby.
Stat Attack
- Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last six matches against Barnsley (W4, D2).
- Barnsley have won just one of their last five trips to Bournemouth (W1, D2, L2).
- Arnaut Danjuma has scored in two of Bournemouth’s last three matches.
- Carlton Morris has scored once in each of Barnsley’s last three away matches, with his three goals all coming in the second half.
- Bournemouth drew their only previous home league game to be refereed by John Brooks this season, finding themselves held to a goalless draw against QPR in October 2020.
Prediction
With just two points currently separating Bournemouth and Barnsley, this is a huge six-pointer because if Cardiff lose elsewhere, Bournemouth could find themselves four points adrift of the play-offs with a defeat here after carelessly dropping points in what should of been a crucial win at Preston last Saturday.
Barnsley meanwhile come into this game off the back of two hard fought games which will certainly of benefitted them mentally on their current ten match unbeaten run, because I do expect them to be in for another difficult contest here against a strong Bournemouth team.
This for me feels like a game that could well boil down to whoever finishes their opportunities best and I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if we see a goalless draw here, yet Barnsley has a poor record in recent meetings but they should be able to get a draw if not the win if able to take their chances best.
Prediction: Bournemouth 1-1 Barnsley
Result: Bournemouth 2-3 Barnsley